Egyptian pyramids, photo by Mika Elgendi, www.cairoconfident.com

Visit Egyptian pyramids like a pro

So you are in Egypt? It's a must to visit The Great Pyramids of Giza. You can join an organized tour, hire a private guide or go on your own. I'll be talking about the last mentioned option today, visiting on your own & hassle free.

Things you need to get before you head out

Step one is to manage your transportation. You can rent a car, if you are brave enough to drive in Egypt :) You can ask a friend, who has a car, to be your driver. Or you can hire an actual driver with a car, but an absolute win would be, if he was egyptologist at the same time. By the way, I know one, so message me for contact, if you need. Once you have managed this part, all will go smoothly.

Step two. Make sure you have your ID, cash- preferably smaller change (min. 500 EGP/ 25 Euro), plenty of water, snacks, hat, shirt with long sleeves to protect you from the sun or sunscreen, good shoes which can be worn in the sand and specially the heat. I'm warning you, your feet might burn in shoes with thin rubber soles as Converse or so. There is no shade, zero, none. I love when asian tourists come, they have their lovely umbrellas with them and I always regret I didn't bring one too :)

Watch out for these men while getting there

Once in Giza, approaching the pyramids, police will stop your car at the check point. They will check your ID. Now comes a very important step. Most probably, there will be a group of men standing on the road, about 50 meters after the check point. They will be directing you to the "parking" on the right side. DO NOT, under any circumstances, go there. Because it is NOT a way to pyramid's official parking lot. We had nobody to tell us this our first time and we ended up in a horrible dirt road "parking" with horses and carriages ready to take us up to the pyramids, as it was super far away. We had to pay a lot of money to an owner of this poor looking animal and carriages. You know about this trick now, so keep driving straight, even if they start knocking on the car rapidly to make it look more believable.

Buy the right tickets

You have reached the parking lot of the pyramids. It's nice and free. Park and go buy your tickets. There are 2 windows. One for a general entry which allows you to access entire pyramid and Sphinx area plus the car tickets. Second one is for tickets to enter The Great Pyramid. It's not a must to go. Good news for my Egyptian readers, you pay about 10% of the price of the ticket, just bring your ID. You will buy a ticket for your car as well. It is 10 EGP only. Why is it good to keep your car with you? Because you will not come out of the same gate after you finish. The exit is far away from the entrance gate. The distance between your stops is huge so you will appreciate if you can rest in a car while moving from one place to another. This applies mainly in summer, when the heat outside is unbearable.

The person who drives the car will go through the gate for vehicles, where they will check his ticket, car ticket and what is in the trunk. The rest of the group will go through the gate right next to the ticket window. You will pass through metal detectors and security employees will scan your bags like at the airport. Please remove water and food from your bag before you put it inside the scanner, because it will stay radiated for 30 minutes afterwards and it's harmful to consume.

You entered, Congratulations!

You are all in, standing in front of the biggest pyramid. Park the car on the left side, after the gate. Roads inside the area are one way, if you keep driving to the right,  you cannot return back, except by foot. Take pictures and enter the pyramid, in case you bought the extra ticket. Please keep in mind, as you do your sightseeing, you will be approached by many locals trying to sell you various items. If you like anything, feel free to buy. If you don't, they will offer and go. Some might be pushier then others. What they usually do, is that they hand you something to have a closer look and they will refuse to take it back from you. You, polite fool, will end up running after them, begging them to take it back, till you get fed up and just buy it.

Panorama views

If you finished, get into car a drive up to panorama hill. It is a spot to the right from The Great Pyramid, little bit higher then the pyramids. From there you can see all three pyramids together. There are few small shops with souvenirs and cold drinks. I mentioned once in article about drinking water in Egypt that small water costs around 2,5 EGP therefore be wise about how much you pay to the seller. Of course their margin is higher there, but I have heard some people paid even 40 EGP per bottle so please, be smart. Don't let the thirst completely blind you :)

The views from there are spectacular. There are beduin people sitting around with their camels and donkeys. Make sure you take a ride and pictures. All of our guests refuse to get on the camel. Every. Single. Time. And every time we convince them to  try and at the end of the day, it's their best picture and memory of Egypt they have. Believe me. It can be little bit frightening to get up on camel. They are suuuper tall so when they are getting up, you have to hold on tight cause it will get steep :) And same for getting down. They are lovely. They don't smell and they are trained good so no worries. Don't forget to negotiate the price for riding upfront.

Museum with boat

It's time to go back down and pass by the museum. Many people skip this part, I dont know why. Maybe the building itself resembles a warehouse and the entrance is not that clearly marked. It's soo worth to see though. It is a boat that was buried next to the pyramid, after it was built. This boat was used to transport the heavy stone blocks by Nile. The museum was built above this boat to protect it. You can see it from the top and read how it was discovered in the posters on the walls. This museum requires extra ticket.

Now the last stop. Sphinx. Drive all the way down the hill and make a right turn, there is a big parking lot. You will probably see many buses there so no chance to miss it. Park and run for your mandatory  "kiss the Sphinx" picture! :)

All this can be done in 4 hours, hassle free & fatigue free if you follow the steps above. I would love to hear from someone who used any of my tips and how it went. Please follow for new articles or register your email to my mailing list.

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Camel by Egyptian pyramids photo by Mika Elgendi www.cairoconfident.com
Egyptian pyramids photo by Mika Elgendi www.cairoconfident.com
Egyptian pyramids tour by car photo by Mika Elgendi www.cairoconfident.com

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